Matt Moulson was named as a finalist for the NHL’s Lady Byng Award, along with Florida’s Brian Campbell and Edmonton’s Jordan Eberle.

Moulson has already won two team awards this year. He received the Islanders Community Service Award for his work within the Long Island community and the Islanders Good Guy Award for his professionalism, courtesy and cooperation with the media.

The Isles forward had just six penalty minutes this season, while posting a career high 36 goals and 33 assists for 69 points.

The award will be handed out on Wednesday, June 20, at the NHL Awards show in Las Vegas.

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers’ season came to an end this evening as they fell, 4-3, to the Connecticut Whale in game three of their best of five game series. Casey Wellman netted the game winner with just less than five minutes to play in the overtime period to achieve the sweep for the Whale

Cam Talbot was once again forced to make 40 plus saves in the win. Kevin Poulin was forced to make 50 saves, the most he has had to make in a game in this series.

The Whale opened up the scoring in the first period Marek Hrivik scored his third goal of the series at the 6:11 mark. The Sound Tigers evened the score at one in the final minute of the period. Justin Dibenedetto put a shot past Talbot to score Bridgeport’s first goal of the game and series.

Ryan Bourque put the Whale back on top in the third at 5:32. David Ullstrom answered back with a goal of his own to tie the game back up. Hrivik scored his second goal of the game, fourth of the series, a minute later to make it 3-2 Connecticut.

Rhett Rakhshani gave the Sound Tigers hope, tying the game with four minutes left in regulation and force an overtime period.

Late in OT, Tony Romano took a slashing penalty and the Whale’s Wellman capitalized on the man advantage to win the game for Connecticut. Romano was given 10-minute misconduct for unsportsmanlike conduct and a game misconduct for abuse of officials (Rule 39.5 (ii)) at the same time as the game-winning goal. He was sent off the ice and did not partake in the post-game handshake.

After the game several players took to twitter. Poulin took to criticizing one official in particular.

“Francis Charron wasn't even a good major junior reff,” his tweet read. “Still wondering why he's up here with the big guys. #stayHomeNextTime #TC”

Other players took to thank the fans for the season long support.

“Speechless,” Casey Cizikas posted. “But thank you #BST fans for your support all season long, its sad it had to end this way.”

“Thank you for all the support this year @TheSoundTigers and @NYIslanders fans! Wish we could've kept playing for you guys a lil longer,” Tweeted Matt Donovan.

David Ullstrom added: “Thx for the birthday wishes. You guys have been awesome all year and your support means a lot. Not the ending we wanted but we'll be back.”

Rhett Rakhshani was sad to see the season end for a different reason.

“Toughest part bout the end of the season is knowing that you will never be with that same exact group of guys. We had a special group,” he tweeted.

]]>ChristianArn312@aol.com (Christian A. )April Mon, 23 Apr 2012 02:07:51 +0000Whale Take 2-0 Series Lead with 3-0 Win Over Bridgeporthttp://www.islandershockeyblog.com/2012-articles/april/whale-take-2-0-series-lead-with-3-0-win-over-bridgeport.html
http://www.islandershockeyblog.com/2012-articles/april/whale-take-2-0-series-lead-with-3-0-win-over-bridgeport.html(Editors note: Due to time constraints I was not able to go down to the locker room for post-game interviews. Quotes come from Michael Fornabaio of the Connecticut Post.)

Bridgeport, Conn -- The Sound Tigers put 41 shots on goal, but were once again shut out by Cam Talbot and the Whale, who won 3-0.

Talbot, who was the game’s first star, had stopped 42 shots the previous game against the Sound Tigers.

“You’re running into a hot goalie,” Brent Thompson told the CT Post. “They’ve obviously played very well. For us, we’ve just got to stay the course. We’ve got to find a way to create offense, whether that’s more shots, on the rush, net drive, net presence, cutting back, puck possession.”

The game opened up with J.T Miller taking a hooking penalty 1:10 into the period. Then Kris Newbury took a roughing penalty 14 seconds later and the Sound Tigers went on the 5-on-3. They had several chances, but could not get one by Talbot.

Connecticut scored their first goal moments after the Sound Tigers power play ended. Jon Landry made a giveaway in is own zone and Jonathan Audy-Marchessault put one past Kevin Poulin to give the Whale a 1-0 lead.

"We can't take a six-minute break early in the game," Thompson said. "We got outworked."

The Whale added to that lead when Marek Hrivik scored the game’s second goal at the 6:44 of the second period. And Hrivik scored his second goal of the game with a little over five minutes left in the game to seal a 3-0 shutout win for the Whale.

The game 2 loss means that Bridgeport must win this afternoon or they’ll be eliminated from the playoffs. Today’s game starts at 5 p.m. at the Xcel Center.

Game Notes:

- Rhett Rakhshani got hit in the mouth with a puck of last night’s loss. A whale clearing attempt, in the second period, went right into his mouth and Rakhshani immediately hit the ice in pain. He left the game, but later returned early in the third period.

- Late in the game frustration boiled over for the Sound Tigers and several scrums and a fight broke out. Whale Captain Wade Redden dropped the gloves with Justin Debenedetto.

- Also, Casey Cizikas was given a game misconduct for abuse-of-officials (Rule 39.5 (ii)). Cizikas had been aggressively trying to break away from an official as he was being led off the ice and could be clearly seen motioning and gesturing on the ice, but it was unclear to whom exactly.

NHL Commissioner Gary Bettman questioned the viability of an Islanders move to Brooklyn, during his 90-minute state-of-the-league address to the Associated Press Sports Editors at the NHL offices in New York City.

"Barclays, I suppose, on some level, is an option," Bettman was quoted as saying by Newsday. "But I'm not sure how effective it can serve the fan base that principally is in Nassau, Suffolk and Queens. It's not that easy to get to Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. So it's not anything that's been focused on, other than the Islanders are going to play a preseason game there."

While the Nassau Coliseum is centrally located just off the Meadowbrook parkway, which connects with LIE, Northern State Parkway and Southern State Parkway, the Barclays Center may be even more convenient since it is located right in the middle of a transportation hub. That has been one major thing Nassau Coliseum has lacked since its’ opening. The building has very little options as far as public transportation is concerned.

Bettman’s comments are especially puzzling since the Barclays Center has plenty of ways for fans to get out to Brooklyn to catch a game.

For fans coming from Nassau or Suffolk County, a hop on the Long Island Rail Road with a transfer at Jamaica would get them to a game. Similar to how fans from Long Island would get to a New York Mets or Yankees game. And for fans in Queens, there are 11 bus lines that make stops at the new Brooklyn arena and 12 subway lines that stop there.

So to summarize, Mets fans can utilize public transportation 81 times a year, but Islander fans cannot. Makes sense right? Not to mention Ranger fans who do it to get to Madison Square Garden. Or Knick fans.

Bettman did go on to say that the league is continuing to help the Islanders explore their options “in the metropolitan area” and that the team has not currently discussed moving outside of the New York Area.

"[Charles Wang] wants to do the right thing for the fans on Long Island,” Bettman said. “Let's be clear: He bought the Islanders to have them on Long Island. But he's not getting a lot of help or cooperation."

The NHL Commissioner took several digs at Nassau County and the Town of Hempstead saying that they seem unwilling or unable to deal with the Coliseum situation. Adding that they don’t seem invested in having a new arena.

Both Bettman and Wang have both repeatedly said that the Islanders will not play in Nassau Coliseum past 2015.

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers fell in the opening game of their playoff series with the Connecticut Whale, 3-0, last night in Bridgeport.

It wasn’t until the third period that either team scored. Kelsey Tessier scored 1:03 into the period and put the Whale ahead 1-0. The Whale scored their second goal of the game at 9:38, when Jordan Owens put one past the Sound Tigers’ Kevin Poulin.

Ryan Bourque scored the third and final goal of the game at the 13:18 mark of the third period.

Poulin made 33 saves for Bridgeport in the loss, while Connecticut starter Cam Talbot made 42 saves to shut out the Sound Tigers.

Both coaches joined the Isles coaching staff in 2009 under former head coach Scott Gordon and have been with the team since. Chynoweth was familiar with the organization having been a first round pick by the Islander in 1987. Allen had been an assistant in both the ECHL and AHL prior to joining the Islanders staff.

Chynoweth and Allen survived the coaching change from Scott Gordon to Jack Capuano in November of 2010 and lasted the full 2011-2012 season.

The Bridgeport Sound Tigers clinched the Northeast Division title last night after they defeated the Providence Bruins.

It is the first time the Sound Tigers have won the division since they did it during the 2001-2002 season. That year the Sound Tigers went all the way to the Calder Cup Finals lead by former Islander Trent Hunter and a young Rick Dipietro.

The win also locked up Bridgeport’s first round matchup, as they will meet the New York Rangers’ farm team, the Connecticut Whale.

The series is a best of three and it opens up on Thursday in Bridgeport. Game two will be at Webster Bank Arena, with games three and four in Hartford and game five, if necessary, back in Bridgeport.

Tickets for the playoffs are available here or you can go the old fashion route and call 1-800-745-3000.

Bridgeport closes out the regular season with a home and home against the baby Pens tonight and tomorrow]]>ChristianArn312@aol.com (Christian A. )April Sat, 14 Apr 2012 21:07:43 +0000Tavares Moves on in NHL 13 Cover Tournamenthttp://www.islandershockeyblog.com/2012-articles/april/tavares-moves-on-in-nhl-13-cover-tournament.html
http://www.islandershockeyblog.com/2012-articles/april/tavares-moves-on-in-nhl-13-cover-tournament.html

The first round saw Tavares go head-to-head with teammate Michael Grabner, with the person who received the most votes between the two moving on to the field of 32. Among the others advancing are stars like Ilya Kovalchuck of the New Jersey Devils and Henrik Lundqvist of the New York Rangers.

The second round begins today and runs until April 22. The top 16 vote getters will move on to the third round, which will be a round-by-round bracket style until two players remain. The winner will be announced at the NHL Awards show on June 20.

Tavares has his work cut out for him since other players involved in the competition, like Scott Hartnell and David Perron, have taken to social media to campaign for fans votes.

Since Tavares doesn’t have a twitter account guess it’ll be on his buddies Matt Moulson, Michael Grabner and Kyle Okposo to champion him online. If you’d like to vote just click here.

The draft order is how most people expected it to turn out with one twist. The Maple Leafs will pick fifth, Montreal at three, and then the surprise of the Blue Jackets picking second and the Oilers picking first for the third year in a row.

For the Islanders it will be the fifth straight year that they will have a top five pick in the draft. They infamously traded down to take Josh Bailey in 2008, picked John Tavares number one in 2009, selected Nino Niederrieter fifth overall in 2010, and picked Ryan Strome fifth in 2011.

Some in “Islanders Country” are saying the Isles should trade the pick for an established top six forward or top four forward. A move like that would make plenty of sense given the Isles already deep pool of young talent in their farm system. Plus, the Islanders need help now rather than later and the biggest thing that will get them over the hump, and into the playoffs, would be an established forward or defensemen.

But tell us what you think. In the comments section play Islanders general manager, who do you pick? Do you trade the pick? Let us know.